Bob Dylan - Modern Times Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 09.13.2006
So, since this album was made in the last 20 years, is it atrocious, too?
My Story
I first started listening to Bob Dylan while I was still in high school, I believe after hearing “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” on the awesome Forrest Gump soundtrack. From that point forward, my brother and I amassed a huge Dylan album collection in just a few short years. From standards like Freewheelin’ to unappreciated classics like Oh Mercy to forgettable detours like John Wesley Harding to bootlegs like Dylan’s set from the tepid Woodstock ’94, we just could not get enough Bob Dylan. Each song was both a revelation and a mystery. A triumph and a tragedy. From the silliness of “Quinn The Eskimo” to the piano-driven truth of “Paths Of Victory”, Bob Dylan just has a way of making songs that are BIG, with big ideas, big hooks and big aspirations.
When Dylan released 1997’s haunting classic Time Out Of Mind, I believe our love for the man’s music was at its peak. I still would place that album as one of my Top 25 CDs of all time, with its evocative themes and poignant production. It was a return to form for a man who had been down a million paths and lived to tell stories about them all.
But then something happened in the winter of 1998 that should never have taken place. I saw Bob Dylan live. And, damn, did he suck. I should’ve known, with his history of changing up the way songs are played and stubborn refusal to play his best known songs. I should’ve kept my expectations low or, better yet, just not went to the concert at all. But I did, and it sucked, and I haven’t enjoyed Dylan the same since. It didn’t help that the artist followed up Time Out Of Mind with the tired old man album Love And Theft, a CD that sounded so displaced in this day and age that it’s hard to believe it even saw release on compact disc over, I don’t know, a phonograph cylinder.
Five years later and I still haven’t gotten over the one-two punch of a terrible concert and an awful new album, but Dylan seems to be enjoying his time back in the public eye, with movies, multiple TV ads, his own XM radio show, a bunch of cranky interviews and, oh yeah, a brand new album. Can it satisfy this disaffected fan?
His Story
If you don’t know Bob Dylan, THE most influential musician in the last 50 years, then try this:
“Blowin' in the Wind”
“Don't Think Twice, It's All Right”
“Masters of War”
“The Times They Are A-Changin’”
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”
“It Ain't Me Babe”
“Subterranean Homesick Blues”
“Mr. Tambourine Man”
“It's All Over Now, Baby Blue”
“It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)”
“Maggie's Farm”
“Like a Rolling Stone”
“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
“I Want You”
“Just Like a Woman”
“One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)”
“All Along the Watchtower”
“I'll Be Your Baby Tonight”
“Lay Lady Lay”
“The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)”
“If Not for You”
“I Shall Be Released”
“You Ain't Going Nowhere”
“Knockin' on Heaven's Door”
“Idiot Wind”
“Tangled Up in Blue”
Now, if there are any songs on this list that you somehow don’t know, take a moment, find them, listen to them, and come back. That pretty much brings you through Dylan’s first decade or so and his best-loved material. The message: from the 60’s to the mid-70’s, Bob Dylan was the fucking master. A genius. He defined folk music, redefined rock music, and gained public attention through both his politically charged protest songs and his gentle, sometimes humorous love songs.
The release of 1975’s #1 album Blood On The Tracks was seen as a major comeback for Dylan. It marked his return to longtime label Columbia Records after a brief turn at Asylum, as well as a return to serious recording after spending much of the early 70’s restlessly searching for a new sound and a new inspiration. Blood also marked the end of a great tour with fellow rockers The Band, which was, at the time, the most successful rock tour of all time.
Following his time with The Band, Dylan revamped things for his next tour. Traveling with several Greenwich Village cohorts (like Joan Baez), Dylan’s raucous and unorthodox Rolling Thunder Revue Tour became the hot ticket in 1975 and 1976. The shows saw Dylan release Desire, his third #1 album, the stellar live set Hard Rain, and the 4-hour labor of love concert film Renaldo And Clara.
For all the greatness of the Rolling Thunder Revue, the exact opposite could be said of Dylan’s next turn. In 1978, Bob released Street Legal, an album that couldn’t be further from the raw rock ‘n’ roll of his previous work, with a big, slick backing band that featured a brass section and a gaggle of female back-up singers. Street Legal was universally panned, as was the supporting tour, which even spawned the mind-numbing double live set At Budokan, an album that featured Dylan giving many of his best-loved classics the “big band” treatment.
When the dust rom the Street Legal experiment settled, Dylan confounded the music world again, this time denouncing his Jewish lineage in favor of Christianity. The religious turn yielded a string of three Christian-themed albums (Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot Of Love), which were released to declining reviews (though Slow Train is a pretty decent record, and it peaked at #3 on the Billboard Pop Chart). The albums were supported by live shows that featured ONLY the new gospel tunes, a move that disappointed Dylan’s already reeling fan base.
Following the release of Shot Of Love, rumors began to surface that a trip to Israel had reverted Dylan away from his Christian fervor. Seemingly confirming this, Dylan released Infidels in 1983, an album that featured his return to secular music.
The years following Infidels were signified by big tours and not-so-big albums. 1985’s Empire Burlesque didn’t do so well commercially with its synthesizers and drum machine beats, but the career retrospective, 5-LP Biograph box set scored huge that year. Dylan’s long tours featuring Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and, later, The Grateful Dead as his backing units have grown to legend, even if the new material Dylan was putting out at the time (Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove) didn’t do so hot.
In 1988, following his much-talked-about shows with Petty and The Dead, Dylan embarked on “The Never Ending Tour”, a show that he’s continuing on today. Bob ended the 80’s on a high note with the stellar Oh Mercy record, an album that critics hailed as his best since the seminal Blood On The Tracks.
Much of the 90’s weren’t a great time for Dylan’s output, but it proved to be very fertile for the artist’s back catalog. Though his 90’s albums Under The Red Sky and the pair of acoustic folk sets Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong hardly set the world on fire, the long awaited Bootleg Series, releases of Dylan’s amazing live and rare back catalog, sparked a huge interest from old and new fans alike. The first three volumes were released as a box set in 1991 and eventually went gold. To date, four more volumes have been released, all to great critical acclaim and success.
In 1997, following a third Greatest Hits release and a disappointing episode of “MTV Unplugged”, Dylan released what many consider his greatest masterpiece in over two decades, the somber Time Out Of Mind. The moody, haunting set surprised everyone when it debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200, Dylan’s best chart position since the 70’s. Time made Dylan hot again and suddenly his concerts were selling out again and his face was showing up on TV and magazines. The album even picked up three Grammy awards in 1998, including “Album Of The Year”.
Bob Dylan bided his time after the success of Time Out Of Mind. Columbia continued to release successful hits and rarities compilation albums and it wasn’t until 2000 that Dylan returned to the studio to work on his follow-up set. Released in 2001, Love And Theft was much more light-hearted than Time, a raucous romp through delta blues and boogie, featuring Dylan’s sly, haggard vocals over some seriously dirty, distorted guitar. Though not near as critically praised, L&T topped Time on the charts, debuting at a surprising #5.
The past few years have seen an explosion in public appearances by Dylan. He’s appeared in two major movies (the abysmal self-penned Masked & Anonymous and the Martin Scorsese TV bio No Direction Home), as well as worked on a new XM radio show called “Theme Time Radio Hour”. In February of this year, Dylan returned to the studio to work on a new album. Around this time, his entire catalog became available on the digital music service iTunes. The partnership led to the current iPod TV spot, which features Dylan singing a song from his latest release.
The Album
On August 29, 2006, Columbia Records released Modern Times, the 31st studio album by Bob Dylan and the follow-up to 2001’s Love And Theft. The album is available on both CD and LP, as well as in a CD/DVD package that contains live performances and videos for the songs “Love Sick”, “Blood In My Eyes”, “Cold Irons Bound” and “Things Have Changed”. Modern Times debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 for the chart week of September 16th. It is Dylan’s first #1 album since 1976’s Desire. At 65, Dylan is the oldest person to ever top the Billboard chart.
The Band: 8.5
Bob Dylan: guitar, harmonica, piano, vocals
A lot of ink has been spilled over Dylan’s latest album, with many critics calling it near perfect. Well, that might not be the case, but Modern Times is definitely Bob Dylan at his modern day best. While the sound is still the kind of throwback that marred Love & Theft, it succeeds more here because Dylan is both more focused and obviously having a good time.
Bob Dylan has never had the greatest voice in rock history, but it has always been distinctive. While it’s hard to compare the vocals of 2000-era Dylan and the young man who belted out “How does it FEEL?”, one thing that has remained consistent is Dylan’s even and wryly humorous delivery. On Modern Times, Dylan’s vocals sound strong, still with his signature rasp, but smoother than on other recent efforts. If you’re not prepared for what you’re going to hear, it’s easy to dismiss this 65-year old Dylan as a sub par “old guy” singer, but, if you really listen, there’s a youthful sweetness on this album that was only hinted at on Love And Theft, and stands in stark contrast to the hopelessness of Time Out Of Mind.
While Dylan’s vocals are an acquired taste, one thing that cannot be disputed is the greatness of the musicianship on this CD. The songs boogie, rollick and glide through the short ten tracks, thanks to the fact that the guys playing (Dylan included, who also produced under the psuedonym Jack Frost) are absolute experts. As I stated, the sound of the disc is a nod to older folk and, especially, blues (making the title kind of a joke, really), but the sound is just so clear and perfect that it’s automatically engaging and inescapable. Dylan’s turns on harmonica are especially gorgeous, sure to delight his 60’s-era protest fans that are still hanging around.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Modern Times is as wonderful sounding as the thematic Time Out Of Mind, but I would definitely agree that it stands as one of Dylan’s warmest and most accessible sounding CDs ever.
The Songs: 7.0
1. Thunder On The Mountain
2. Spirit On The Water
3. Rollin’ And Tumblin’
4. When The Deal Goes Down
5. Someday Baby
6. Workingman’s Blues #2
7. Beyond The Horizon
8. Nettie Moore
9. The Levee’s Gonna Break
10. Ain’t Talking
Once again, the songs on this album have kind of disappointed me. Dylan seems to have abandoned the whole concept of making enjoyable pop songs for his signature winding, witty narratives. Sure, songs like “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” and “Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” are great, but they have to be counterbalanced by the catchy tunes like “When The Ship Comes In” and “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”. Modern Times features none of that.
Not to say the ten songs that made the cut aren’t good. The songs sometimes amble, sometimes ramble their way through some great, classic Dylan lines "I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys/Couldn't keep from cryin'/She was born in Hell's Kitchen and I was livin' down the line” (“Thunder On The Mountain”) and "There’s an evening haze settling over town/Starlight by the edge of the creek/The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down/Money's getting shallow and weak/Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory/It’s a new path that we trod/They say low wages are reality/If we want to compete abroad" (“Workingman’s Blues #2”).
When it comes to songwriting, Dylan can definitely bring it. Lines like that are scattered throughout this album, and repeated listens only reveal more. The unfortunate thing is, it just feels like he keeps talking and talking, on and on, never giving you a break to digest or a chorus to sing-a-long, too. And don’t tell me I don’t know Dylan. He used to be able to do this.
Thematically, Modern Times is much less depressing and much broader than Time Out Of Mind. Dylan talks about love, life, work and has a little more to say about death. Throughout, Dylan borrows and steals familiar licks and lines from all sorts of written and recorded history, from Muddy Waters to WC Handy to 19th century poet Henry Timrod. The inclusion is a classic staple of American folk music and is sure to please longtime Dylan and genre fans more than any other forward-looking album ever could.
Modern Times isn’t an album of highlights, really, but standouts do occur with the somber “Workingman Blues #2”, the shuffle of “Someday Baby” and the haunting album closer “Ain’t Talking”, a classic 8-minute Dylan epic about a wandering pilgrim on an eventful journey. These are just proof that, when Dylan’s on, there’s no one better at what he does. Luckily, he’s on for most of Modern Times.
The 411: Modern Times isn’t a Dylan masterpiece, but it is a very good album that is pure Bob. The disc is a large improvement over the whimsical Love & Theft, but still far from as inspired as Time Out Of Mind. The album has a great sound, with Dylan’s band coming up with a timeless resonance that is the 2006 production evolution of 60’s folk and delta blues. Dylan also has some great lines on this disc, with standout songs like the looming “Ain’t Talking” and the fun album opener “Thunder On The Mountain”. While not perfect, Modern Times will definitely please longtime Dylan fans and may even introduce a new fan or two. After nearly 50 years, that’s a big accomplishment for an artist who has stubbornly remained relevant without bowing to anyone else’s expectations.
